Two salmon ovaries (roes) can be obtained from one female salmon. The roe comprises thousands of eggs or berries coated with membrane. A length of the roe is about 20 to 30 cm, a diameter of the center portion is 5 to 8 cm, and opposite ends thereof are tapered. The obtained roe is subjected to a predetermined processing such as kenching or salt down, and is provided as food. This processing method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5753298, Canadian Patent No. 2178704 and the like. In Japan, the roe is widely used as an ingredient of sushi and the like, and is known as upscale dainty bits. In recent years, the roes are known foods also in U.S., Canada, Norway and the like where Japanese foods became common.
In Japan, the roes are valuable as gifts, and when eating the roe, it is cut into bite-size portions, and the roes are eaten little by little. Therefore, the roe is previously cut into small pieces and supplied on the table. However, when the roe is cut into small pieces, not only a membrane of the roe is cut, but also eggs or berries are cut. Therefore, a tasty ingredient liquor (drip) flows out or leaks out of the eggs, and this makes a kitchen dirty and thus, many housewives do not like the cutting operation of the roe. As described above, if the roe is manually cut, the tasty ingredient liquor may flow out and a kitchen may be made dirty. It is also technically difficult to uniformly cut the roe and there is a problem that bacteria may attach to the roe from hands, and it is necessary to take measures in terms of health.
Thereupon, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional technique, and to provide a cutting method for cutting a salmon ovary and an apparatus for carrying out the cutting method capable of cutting a roe into a plurality of pieces such that liquor included in eggs or berries is prevent from flowing out as much as possible.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cutting method for cutting a salmon ovary and an apparatus for carrying out the cutting method capable of cutting a roe into small pieces as uniform as possible. Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting method for cutting a salmon ovary and an apparatus for carrying out the cutting method suitable for health and capable of minimizing bacteria contamination by cutting the roe mechanically.
According to a cutting method for cutting a salmon ovary of the present invention, the salmon ovary is held and transferred and in a whole state, the ovary is locally pushed at predetermined gaps, eggs in a membrane are divided into a plurality of clusters by this pushing operation, and the pushed portions of the membrane are then cut to separate the plurality of clusters.
A cutting apparatus for cutting a salmon ovary of the present invention comprises a bucket portion for holding the salmon ovary, transfer means for transferring the bucket portion, and cutter means for cutting the ovary into a plurality of clusters. The bucket portion comprises a plurality of bucket pieces disposed at predetermined gaps from one another. The cutter means includes a pushing means and a blade. The cutter means is located in the gap between the bucket pieces. The pushing portion of the cuter means divides eggs by pushing a membrane of the salmon ovary, and the blade cuts the pushed membrane which exists between the eggs. Each of the bucket pieces includes a receiving plate and a pushing plate. The transfer means comprises driving and follower sprockets, a chain wound around these sprockets, a mounting plate mounted to the chain, and a chopping board secured to the mounting plate.
There are various types of the cutter pieces. In a first type, the cutter piece is provided only at its tip end with a blade. In a second type, the cutter piece is provided at its tip end with a bent portion, and the bent portion is formed with the blade. In a third type, the cutter piece comprises a rotating blade and pushing means, and the rotating blade and a pushing face of the pushing means are located on the same plane.